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Statoil steps up focus on improving recovery rate

KatarinaGustafsson

Norwegian oil and gas giant Statoil ASA
STO, -1.23%
said Tuesday that the company is strengthening its focus on improving the recovery rate from its oil and gas deposits by technological improvements.

"Technology for better reservoir understanding can alone add reserves of 1.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent to our global portfolio by 2020. In addition we will focus on technology that will reduce drilling time by 30% and drilling costs by 15% by 2020," Statoil's head of technology Siri Espedal Kindem said in a statement.

As previously announced, Statoil will devote NOK2.8 billion ($461 million) to research and development in 2012, an increase by 27% on year.

Last year, Statoil's main projects for improved recovery were the Troll and Asgard subsea compression projects.

"We have matured more volumes through improved recovery efforts than the Skrugard and Havis finds combined," Oystein Michelsen, Statoil's executive vice president for the Norwegian continental shelf said in the statement referring to 2011.

Skrugard is estimated to hold around 250 million barrels of recoverable oil equivalents while Statoil estimates that Havis holds between 200 million and 300 million barrels.

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